IMSA sports car racing championships ended in Road Atlanta with the world-renowned Motul Petit Le Mans, a 10-hour endurance race. Primarily the series consists of the WeatherTech Sportscar championship for Prototypes and the GT LeMans/Daytona cars and of the Continental SportsCar Challenge open to Grand Touring cars. Literally down to the wire in an unbelievable turn of events, the Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R. driven by Renger Van Der Zande, took advantage of the Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi running out of gas three turns from the finish line to take the victory over the Dpi Mazda Team Joest. “Van Der Zande drove a heckuva stint and it was one of the most spectacular finishes I’ve ever seen,’’ said Jordan Taylor. “For 10 hours of racing, the way it went, to have it come down to the last two corners is incredible. You never give up in these types of races; you never know what’s going to happen. You could win a race. And that’s what happened today.’’ The buzz from Saturday’s instant classic Motul Petit Le Mans carried over to Sunday evening as IMSA celebrated its champions across the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at its annual WeatherTech Night of Champions. Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran clinched the Prototype championship – the Action Express Racing Team’s fourth championship in the last five years. Cadillac also clinched its second consecutive manufacturer title in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen won the GT LeMans Championship driving the No. 3 Corvette, while Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won the GT Daytona championship with Paul Miller Racing and Lamborghini.

The Fox Factory 120 at Road Atlanta on Friday capped off what has been a spectacular season of racing in IMSA’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. After 10 hard-fought races, champions across the series’ three classes were crowned – in Grand Sport (GS), Hugh Plumb and Owen Trinkler in the No. 46 Team TGM Mercedes-AMG GT4; in the first season for TCR, the No. 77 Compass Racing Audi RS3 LMS of Britt Casey, Jr. and Tom Long; and the final Street Tuner (ST) title went to Nick Galante and Devin Jones in the No. 81 BimmerWorld Racing BMW 328i.

The season may be over for some drivers and teams across IMSA’s various series, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any more on-track action before the calendar flips to 2019. Preparations continue for several teams for the inaugural IMSA Michelin SportsCar Encore at Sebring International Raceway on Nov. 9-11, 2018. After two full days of practice and qualifying on the 3.74-mile, 17-turn track, the featured event takes place on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 12 p.m. with a four-hour race featuring LMP3, GT3, GT4 and TCR race cars. We will be there and if you’re making plans to come please stop by our Racing Spirit tent and say hello!

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